Question of the Week: 103 - 3/17/2003What Are You Reading?What was the last book(s) that you read or what favorite book would you recommend to others? When in the bookstore or library, which section do you head for first?

Do you prefer fiction or non fiction? Do you read mostly for enjoyment/entertainment or for knowledge/information?

What media besides books do you read? What is your literary skeleton in the bookcase (such as comics, fashion mags, tabloids, showbiz gossip, sports)?

I'm currently making my way through Carlos Casteneda's books on the teachings of Don Juan. Many people have blasted Casteneda for his advocacy of hallucinogens and his sloppy archeological work. However, I have decided to treat these books as "moral fiction" works and I am enjoying them greatly. When I am finished, I might compare the lessons he has proposed in this book to "Island" by Aldous Huxley and see where the differences and similarities of oppinion overlap.

Recently I have found that my steady diet of fantasy and (new school) sci-fi has gotten a lot more roughage from the non-fiction worlds of archeological texts and books about modern politics. Plus I'm finally having some positive introductions to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark, who's works I hadn't been happy with until now. Maturing taste maybe?

In the bookstore I still make a bee-line for "New Age" even when I know I'm only going to be dissapointed by the sticky sweet rush of "instant magick" spellbooks. (Why is it I can only find books on Paganism that are mostly books on spells? Where have all the Dianic authors gone?) Only occasionally have I found a gem like "The Complete Idiots Guide to Women's Spirituality". I like to shop at our local used book store and baffle the ladies who work there with requests for Merlin Stone or Robert Graves, in the hopes of getting something intellectual to read. My next trip is to the fantasy section to drool over Charles de Lint's latest opus and sigh because I can't afford it. Or rant because they don't have any at all.

I do heartily recommend any book by Charles de Lint, many Wiccans should be absolutely delighted with his urban faerie tales. Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series is complex and might turn some people off, but it is a rich mythic allegory that manages to combine both Pagan and Catholic mythos into a fascinating story.

"Island" by Aldous Huxley is a dense read but very worth while, he even includes some of the arguments against halucinogens that come up so often. If you have read "Brave New World" or was forced to by your school, you should find "Island" to be a much more appealing Utopic tale.

D.J. Conway has written a wonderful book on Celtic Shamanism, which might not be entirely accurate (not my usual bag of tricks) but is very easy to read and follow. I mentioned "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Women's Spirituality" before, if you're not sure about feminist spirituality, this book gives you a wide range of concepts to help you pin down what you feel. "The Vagina Monologues" by Eve Ensler will make you laugh and cry, and maybe make you a little braver about your own body (I mean if you're female) .

This book has been a blessing for me as a parent. It has given me inspirational ideas for traditions that I can now begin to pass on to my daughter (age 2&3/4) . It has also helped me break down the explanation of what OSTARA is, so that I may explain it to my daughter with out to much confusion on her part.

On another note, it would also serve as a terrific introduction book for the beginner pagan. One looking for more of a break down on this particular Sabbat.

I'm currently reading Thomas Kinsella's translation of the Tain, a.k.a The Ulster cycle of Irish mythology. This is about my third time through but for those who read it for the first time, I recommend having a *good* dictionary of Celtic Mythology handy (Miranda Green's is a personal favorite) . My Deadicant's group in our ADF Grove (techinically Protogrove) is reading this currently & I just learn more & more every time. If you really want to get a feel fo what the pre-Christian Celts were up to, this is fantastic place to start. Not for fluff-bunnies.

I have been reading "The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation" by Silver RavenWolf. She has got to be one of the best authors I have read in a long time. All of her books are very direct, to the point, and easy to understand. I know that they were originally designed for teens but I enjoy her writing techniques.

Just a note to Newer members of the Craft...Check out USED Bookstores. You can find the Coolest Deals.

Happy Reading and Blessed Be to All! Link to More info related to this post -- HERE

I am currently reading two books at the same time. I am almost finished "We Were Soldiers Once and Young" by Lieut. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway (I've been reading it on my breaks at work) and at the same time I am rereading "Wicca: The Complete Craft" by DJ Conway.

Recommendations of favorite books: For anyone interested in photography, I highly recommend "The Complete Idiots Guide to Photography Like A Pro". The book is chock full of information, tips, and suggestions. For those who enjoy studying World War Two, please read "Panzer Commander", which is the war time memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck. I also recommend anything written by Stephen Ambrose and John Keegan.

My favorite bookstore sections: When I enter my local Borders, the first section I ALWAYS go to without fail is their military history section. There I check out intently how many shelves they've devoted to works about World War One (which sadly is never more than two shelves) and see if there are any new titles that reach out and grab me. Then I walk over to the Wicca/Magic/New Age section (since they moved areas around in the store, it is now a mere five feet away from the military history section) and see if any titles there stand out. Then I wander through the Nature section and check stuff there, too.

Preferences: I read TONS more non-fiction than I do fiction. Tolkien's works have been the only fiction I've read in the last almost-a-year. My historian brain needs exercise, so I have read books like "The Rommel Papers" and volume one of "The Patton Papers" and a lot of Civil War biographies.

I definitely read for both enjoyment and knowledge--those are my only purposes for reading.

Other media: My mom and I have gotten National Geographic magazine for years and I always anxiously await each issue. I am a member of the National Air and Space Museum and read my copies of Air and Space Smithsonian magazine at least three times each. And since I have developed an obsessive passion for photography, I have subscribed to Outdoor Photographer magazine and Peterson's PHOTOgraphic magazine.

Recently I went a picked up a book that was recomended by witchvox by Ann Moura "Witchcraft: An ALternative Path". I LOVE IT and I am not even through with it yet. The book covers all the basics plus if is very thorough. I would definatly recomend anyone pick up this book as reference material or just to read.

I am reading a series of books by author Laurell K. Hamilton. The series is called Anita Blake Vampire Hunter. It is really cool. I just finished Book #? 10? Called Narcissus In Chains. I am looking forward to her new book. She also has a series about Meredith Gentry, a Fairy Princess

A book recommended to me by a colleague: "The unconscious civilization" by John Ralston Saul. I've not gotten very far in it yet but so far Saul describes how "corporatism" is destroying democracy by changing the focus of society from the well-being of society to that of self-interested groups; how self-interest (as in selfishness) is hurting society overall. There's a strange duality to the first chapter; I'm looking forward to seeing if he clarifies this better. It's more political philosophy, I guess, than anything else; certainly I don't normally enjoy reading about economics but it's not very heavy in that. Yet. I've only just started reading it.

On the light side, I just finished the Dark Jewel series by Anne Bishop, very enjoyable. Right now I'm reading Owlflight, by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. On the not so light side I'm reading, Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore by Jennifer Larson. I have a huge stack of books about Hellenic religion waiting for me to get through them. I'm trying to offset these with somethings that are lighter. For my class I have to read the The Bedford Handbook and the play Fences. And at work there is always some MS white paper or other to study.

My book case skeleton comes from the web, I read Fanfiction when I have the time.

I wish there was more time in our society for reading, I think we'd be better off for it.

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